Hello, thank you for visiting me here in my little piece of cyberspace, created especially to tell you about me and my writing life. Not being sure what to write as an introduction I went to my most helpful source and asked children I work with, what questions would they ask of their favourite author. Then I told them I am the author!
Thank you, Gracie, Jay, Chloe, Liam and Joseph for your fabulous questions. I hope you are not too disappointed it is me and not J.K Rowling giving you the answers.
Gracie: What are you writing now?
I am writing a novel called ‘Conk’ about a new friendship of two boys from different worlds. Conk is a warrior from ‘The Murmur’ another dimension, where the spirits of nature dwell, Lucas is a young boy recently brought into care. Both boys break the rules and ancient laws fighting for what they believe is the right thing to do, in their quest to stop the destruction of the wild and desolate Chestnut Park, a new hangout for Lucas but old home to Conk and his Mother Tree.
It is a book I am excited about writing and can’t wait to find out how it ends. I am sure boys and girls will route for Conk and Lucas throughout their adventure and journey.
Jay: What were you like when you were little?
When I was little, I was a ‘very hungry caterpillar’ … feasting on book leaves and falling through their magical portals. I would go missing for hours at a time. No one worried about me as they knew I would always return to eat, I loved to eat.
Chloe: Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Birkenhead, a shipbuilding town on the West bank of the River Mersey, which inspired a story I have written called the ‘Mersey Pearl’, about a young girl who believes if she can swim to the bottom of the river and fetch her fathers legendary pearl, she can save him from his heartache and loss.
Liam: What was your favourite book?
Too many to mention but I loved books by Enid Blyton and spent a lot of time rowing to Kirrin Island with the Famous Five and Timmy the dog. I loved going to boarding school at Malory Towers … who wouldn’t love a school that had a swimming pool set in rock on a cliff face and filled by ocean waves? I loved the world of ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King, I loved ‘Mary Poppins’ by P.L Travers. I loved a ‘Kestral for a Knave’ by Barry Hines. I loved book after book after book after book, and it saddens me that I will never be able to read all the books in the world.
Joseph: What were your favourite games?
I liked imaginary games, we had a fun household with a mum who encouraged us to build dens and tents, hidey holes under stairs and to be anything we wanted. I had three brothers, so it was never a quiet house. When we played cowboys and Indians, the eldest brother, ‘Big Chief Crazy Horse’ would gallop his horse over my wigwam with our youngest brother ‘Little Crazy Horse and me, his squaw, trapped inside!! Meanwhile the middle brother, a reluctant ‘General Custer’ would feel sorry for us and declare ‘time to rescue the prisoners’, this was difficult due to the collapse of the wigwam and Custar having to crawl under the debris, whilst a gleeful Big Chief Crazy Horse jumped on top of us, declaring us prisoners and promising we would be scalped one by one. Thankfully it was all make-believe.
It is worth noting we all wanted to be Indians, not the cavalry due to our surname being Craze and our own dad and Big Chief, telling us ‘Big Chief Crazy Horse’ was our great, great grandfather and I believe Big Chief Crazy Horse was a noble and honourable chief who did not scalp anyone!
So there you have it, a mish-mash profile of me, I hope you will join me on my site again soon, as I will be adding more stuff about me and my writing journey.
Tracey Craze Writing for Children 